One of my retirement goals is to open a coffee shop with some unique features.
One of the features in question involves having a few tables set aside for dedicated conversation groups. If this turns out to be a good idea I would add more tables. They would work like this. Each table would have a keyboard that would allow them to enter what ever the topic was on an electronic bulletin board, they could change topics whenever they chose. Tables would be open to all.
A customer might walk in and sit at an empty table and type in vacations, or science, health and fitness, whatever he or she chose and then anyone seeing this could sit down and join them. Good or bad?
How about a marked non-electronic open discussion table where strangers are encouraged to sit and join in a conversation?
Open discussion would be one of the popular options I imagine. I know from my own coffee shop experience we tend to start off open and then drift on to a topic which seems to morph sometimes frequently. The whole concept is to encourage strangers to join in.
Yes, it’s a terrible idea. 
I think that if the tables are ‘reserved’ for discussion groups only, they will sit empty much of the time. If they are open for anyone to sit at, then they will fill up just like any other table at a coffee shop.
Maybe a discussion evening might work; on Tuesday nights (or whenever), try to set up some themed tables . . . throw down the most recent issues of Scientific American on the ‘science’ table, Runner’s World on the ‘health and fitness’ table, and so on. Planned, marketed, and well-executed, that could be a fun evening.
ETA: The problem with a regular reserved table is that, if you’re actually doing well business wise, you’ll want customers to be able to sit at available seating, and to not turn them away because those three tables in the corner are for discussion groups only.
That is actually another one of the plans we wanted to throw in. I tend to get bored with the poetry and singing nights as some of the readers are just very bad. So my twist on that would be a show us your passion night. Maybe you are a game designer, or an artist, inventer etc. Anything someone would like to share.
Yes, it’s a terrible idea, if you think this is a wise investment of your retirement money. On the other hand, it’s a wonderful idea if this is something you want to experience.
You kind of nailed exactly where I am at. I can afford to gamble a fairly specific amount of money. I am really looking to create a lifestyle for myself that I can enjoy for years to come as well as a proving ground for some little theories I have been playing with over the years. I couldn’t afford to ride this thing out for more than a year if it were not successful, but at the same time if I lost my lifestyle would not really change. I would feel bad about not having passed that money along for my grandkids educations although my son seems to be handling that fairly well on his own.
Why use a fancy electronic system that can be vandalized or unintentionally broken? A piece of paper and a sharpie would work just as well.
I hear this quite often. One of my bosses had an electronic sign he used in the shop for the mechanics. I always thought it was cool but not really neccessary.
A few separate thoughts/opinions:
(1) Except in the most perfect of locations and scenarios, the conversation aspect of the business will not be a determining factor in whether the business stays afloat or not. Coffee shops are matters of convenience first and destinations-unto-themselves a distant second. Evening entertainment and whatnot can supplement the day-to-day food service business, but that’s a different sort of thing to just “get your coffee here because it’s a little different”.
(2) Assuming the food service business alone is properly planned and is viable, I think the conversation thing is a great idea if executed right.
(3) Chalkboards, not electronic displays. Here’s how I’d lay it out. Every (every!) table gets a 1 to 1.5 sq ft chalkboard with a few pieces of chalk and an eraser. Each board has a small plaque beneath it explaining the purpose of this chalkboard (and by association, all the others seen around the room). “If you’d welcome strangers to come join you at your table, write a possible topic of conversation on the board. Or, join another table whose board shows something of interest to you.”
(4) Chalkboards have several advantages:
- Everyone knows how they work.
- Cheap.
- Easy to maintain.
- If you never clean them, people will see that they get used, encouraging them to use them, too. (Think: priming a tip jar with your own money.) In fact, I’d never clean them. I’d want each person to sit down and see echoes of an infinite history of topics discussed at that very table. “Hey, it looks like the last people here talked about Iraq, and maybe pizza before that. Maybe we should put up a topic?”
- If a topic is left completely unerased by the previous patrons, the next person might just leave it up and get random conversation with no overt effort of their own. This lowers the ice-breaking bar even further. If they want, they can always erase the board when they sit down.
If you make it something that people have to choose to do – to put themselves out there – by sitting at special tables, it will fizzle. It needs to be optional but very easy, and it needs to be ubiquitous. Every table needs the board. It’s a critical mass situation. If no one does it, no one will start. But if just a few boards get topics (and some of those topics stay up for a while due to eraser laziness), then you could get a critical mass, and it will becomes socially acceptable to engage.
Added without further comment:
Slate article: “I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life.”
My sister-in-law opened a small cafe a little while ago. It destroyed her life’s savings, and she eventually had to sell it. Just a warning.
I have read that one as well as pages of others with equally encouraging stories. Used coffee equipment is all over the internet. Two of my favorite coffee shops that have been around for decades have had slumps that I doubt they have ever fully recovered from. I don't feel real good about the risks. At the same time I have had retail businesses in the past that were successful even though the odds were greatly against me. I admittedly have not got it to pencil out. But I feel pretty good about some complimentary type additions to the business that looks like they could tip it the right direction.
I think the idea is kinda cool, as long as it isn’t limiting people (to certain subjects).
I think I’m the only one old enough to remember when roadside restaurants had “Maverick” tables. These were set aside for travelers who wanted company and conversation, rather than solitude. They were either marked as such or the waitress could direct you, and it was a way for a lonely traveler to have conversation at dinner.
You’ve recaptured the idea in a more modern form.